Andy: We might do business on a board, but I want to carve the pieces myself. One side in alabaster, the opposing side in soapstone. What do you think?
Red: I think it’ll take years.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

TPS Report #2

Reviewed GM-RAM 40-48.

Annotated game 2 from WSO2007.

Started annotating game 3 from WSO2007 and game 1 from Sweet November.

Did another 400 problems on Chess Tactics Server and couldn’t for the life of me keep my rating above 1580. Damn, that thing is spiteful. The speed factor that causes my rating to go down even when I get the problem right is super annoying. Sometimes, I feel like a gambler who can't get up from a slot machine that keeps taking away my dignity and my money. I express my hostility toward the machine by stubbornly staying in the hope that suddenly my luck will turn. I’ve now done 10,500 problems on CTS. My accuracy keeps edging downward, now at 84.9%.

Pushed my Chess Visualization Training Points up to 2500. The darn Chess Visualization Training has a problem with quality control. I often enter the exactly correct answer only to have it tell me I’m wrong. They don’t seem to respond to my complaints. It’s still good training, but I’ve got half a mind to try to build my own Chess Visualization Training Server and show them up.

Got Total Chess Training I and II in the mail today after ordering it Sunday from Wholesale Chess. The thrill of acquisition has given way to the reality of owning the product. Will it impact my game, or like so many books on my shelf, will it molder in obsolescence?

3 comments:

It doesent seem to matter how much study I do, my rating seems to have reached a plateau, a somewhat frustrating circumstance. The only logical conclusion I can arrive at is that my subconscious is trying to balance my god given superior super intelligence with humility in order to keep me modest.